I may have failed but I have loved you from the start
by animezebra
Summary: Spoilers for Hunks & Homecoming. What if Ally hadn't let Austin walk away after his ultimatum? An argument leads to a realization for Austin, and suddenly Ally's decision becomes that much harder.


WARNING: SPOILERS FOR HUNKS AND HOMECOMING/ALLY'S NEW CRUSH

A/N: I wrote this in a fit of inspiration posted it on my tumblr. Cleaned it up a bit for you folks here, but it's still pretty raw. I'll probably regret posting this at 3AM with very little editing but my emotions are running high right now for multiple reasons so I'm just gonna do this so I can sleep somewhat peacefully.

Disclaimer: I do not own Austin and Ally.

~/~/~/~

**"Look, you have to decide. Is it gonna be Austin and Ally, or Gavin and Ally?**

**"You're not seriously asking me to choose between you and Gavin, are you?"**

**"Yeah, guess I am."**

Before he could storm away, she grabbed his arm, determined to finish this conversation right now. "Wait, Austin! How could you ask me to do something like that?"

He crossed his arms across his chest, glaring at her. "How could YOU just ditch me like that when a new singer comes along?"

"You're the one who told me it was okay to write with him!"

"Yeah because I thought it was going to be _one_ song. Now you spend all your time writing with him and you ignore our scheduled meetings and brush me off for stupid Gavin." He scowled at the name.

"He is not stupid," she ground out. "He's sweet and smart with a great sense of humor. And I gotta tell you, it's great working with someone who understands and appreciates me as an artist, someone who's actually mature."

"What does that even mean?" he asked, eyes narrowed.

She poked him in the chest. "Gavin doesn't treat me like I exist just to write songs for him. He would _never_ ask me to choose between the two of you. And the Austin I know would never have either. He'd be supportive and understand how important this is to my career and how happy it makes me."

"Yeah, well, the Ally I know would never abandon me for the next new singer to come along." He ignored the tug at his heart at the hurt flashing across her face at his sharp words and ran his hand through his hair. "I can't believe you're choosing him."

"Austin are you hearing yourself? I never said I was going to leave you!"

"You might as well have. We've been partners for years now. You've known him for what, a week? And you act like you've known him your whole life. It's not like he invented the piano or something."

"Actually, it was invented by – "

"Not the point Ally!" He sighed, trying to reel his emotions in. "Look, even if you don't care anymore, my career is important to me. If you're going to ditch me, at least tell me to my face so I can start to look for a new songwriter."

Ally's brow furrowed at the sudden turn in the conversation. "Wait, so this entire argument is because you're worried about your career?"

"What else would it be about?"

His forced indifferent tone set her teeth on edge, and she snapped out her next words. "I thought maybe it was about you missing me. You know, because we're best friends, even though you've been acting more like a jealous boyfriend than anything else."

The two stood staring at each other, suddenly registering that somehow there was now only an inch of space between them. And the next thing she knew he was cupping her face in his hands and kissing her so fiercely that her knees went weak. She slowly fisted her hand in the front of his shirt to stay upright and had barely started to kiss back before he pulled away. He rested his forehead against hers, eyes shut as if he didn't want the moment to end.

"Austin," she breathed out. His hands were still framing her face, and sparks went skittering across her skin as his thumbs stroked her cheeks gently. As he opened his eyes, she swallowed hard. There was a new light in her eyes as he looked at her, something she had never seen before, and the intensity of it made her breath catch. His gaze dropped to her lips, and she fought down the surge of disappointment when he stepped back, sliding his hands into his pockets and avoiding her gaze.

"I've been a jerk, and I'm sorry. I do appreciate you Ally. My dream wouldn't have come true if it weren't for you. If you want to work with him, that's fine. It's your career, and you have every right to do what's best. I just want you to be happy."

He took a deep breath, wringing his hands nervously as he looked up at her and continued. "But don't ask me to stand by and watch you in our practice room, sitting next to him on our bench and touching his hand at our piano. Because I don't think I can do it."

Her heart throbbed at the hoarse words and pained smile on his face. "Why?" she whispered.

He shrugged awkwardly. "Turns out it's always been a love song."

With a slight smile, he slipped out the door and left her standing there with her mouth open in shock, lips still tingling with his kiss.


End file.
